Learn about passive voice and reflexive verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Michael: Hi everyone, and welcome back to CzechClass101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 24 - Why Do I Need to See my Doctor? Michael, here. |
| Veronika: Ahoj, I'm Veronika. |
| Michael: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the passive voice and reflexive verbs. The conversation takes place at a sports club. |
| Veronika: It's between Jozefina Jerabkova and Vojtech Vydra. |
| Michael: The speakers are strangers, therefore, they will speak both formal and informal Czech. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Jozefína Jeřábková: Chtěla bych se přihlásit na kurzy sebeobrany pro ženy. Co pro to můžu udělat? |
| Vojtěch Vydra: To není problém, právě se připravuje nový kurz. Zapíšete se, vyplníte formulář a zaplatíte kurzovné. |
| Jozefína Jeřábková: A to je vše? |
| Vojtěch Vydra: Ano, pak už jen stačí nechat se vyšetřit lékařem a můžete začít. |
| Jozefína Jeřábková: Proč musím k doktorovi? |
| Vojtěch Vydra: Váš lékař vám potvrdí, že jste zdravotně způsobilá k absolvování kurzu. Potvrzení přinesete na první lekci. |
| Jozefína Jeřábková: A kdy se mám dostavit na první lekci sebeobrany? |
| Vojtěch Vydra: Kurz se bude otevírat příští měsíc. Většinou se plánuje na pondělí večer. V případě změn vám dám vědět. |
| Jozefína Jeřábková: Co si mám vzít s sebou na první hodinu? |
| Vojtěch Vydra: Kromě toho potvrzení už jen pohodlné sportovní oblečení. Boty si brát nemusíte, cvičí se naboso. |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Jozefína Jeřábková: Chtěla bych se přihlásit na kurzy sebeobrany pro ženy. Co pro to můžu udělat? |
| Michael: I would like to sign up for self-defense courses for women. What do I do? |
| Vojtěch Vydra: To není problém, právě se připravuje nový kurz. Zapíšete se, vyplníte formulář a zaplatíte kurzovné. |
| Michael: No problem, a new course is being prepared. You will sign up, fill out a form and pay the course fee. |
| Jozefína Jeřábková: A to je vše? |
| Michael: And that's it? |
| Vojtěch Vydra: Ano, pak už jen stačí nechat se vyšetřit lékařem a můžete začít. |
| Michael: Yes, then you only need to receive a check up from your doctor and you can start. |
| Jozefína Jeřábková: Proč musím k doktorovi? |
| Michael: Why do I need to see my doctor? |
| Vojtěch Vydra: Váš lékař vám potvrdí, že jste zdravotně způsobilá k absolvování kurzu. Potvrzení přinesete na první lekci. |
| Michael: Your doctor will confirm that you are physically fit for completing the course. Bring your confirmation to the first class. |
| Jozefína Jeřábková: A kdy se mám dostavit na první lekci sebeobrany? |
| Michael: And when should I come for the first self-defense class? |
| Vojtěch Vydra: Kurz se bude otevírat příští měsíc. Většinou se plánuje na pondělí večer. V případě změn vám dám vědět. |
| Michael: The course will open next month. Usually it is scheduled for Monday evening. I will let you know in case of changes. |
| Jozefína Jeřábková: Co si mám vzít s sebou na první hodinu? |
| Michael: What should I take with me for the first class? |
| Vojtěch Vydra: Kromě toho potvrzení už jen pohodlné sportovní oblečení. Boty si brát nemusíte, cvičí se naboso. |
| Michael: Apart from the doctor's confirmation, just bring comfortable sportswear. You don't need to take shoes, we train barefoot. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Michael: What sports are popular in the Czech Republic? |
| Veronika: The most popular is football, with tennis, ice hockey, volleyball, floorball, athletics, basketball, and skiing also being popular. |
| Michael: Which football teams are the most successful? |
| Veronika: Viktoria Plzeň and Sparta Praha. If it’s a higher league, many Czechs will go to the stadiums to cheer. Even more stay at home, watching with friends and a beer. |
| Michael: I’m sure many people play football, too. |
| Veronika: Yes, you’ll find it played in every town and village. The second most popular sport is ice hockey. |
| Michael: The Czech national team is very good, isn’t it? They’ve won many international competitions. |
| Veronika: Yes, and Czech players are well-known abroad. Many play for leading NHL teams. |
| Michael: I presume that many Czechs enjoy ice skating then. |
| Veronika: Every major city has a winter stadium. In warmer weather we can skate there, in the winter people skate on the pond. |
| Michael: I bet that snowboarding and skiing are very popular, also. |
| Veronika: Yes, at the weekend, Czechs like to go to the mountains. Some also travel to the French, Italian, or Austrian Alps. |
| Michael: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Michael: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Veronika: přihlásit se [natural native speed] |
| Michael: to sign up |
| Veronika: přihlásit se[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Veronika: přihlásit se [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Veronika: sebeobrana [natural native speed] |
| Michael: self-defense |
| Veronika: sebeobrana[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Veronika: sebeobrana [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Veronika: formulář [natural native speed] |
| Michael: form |
| Veronika: formulář[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Veronika: formulář [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Veronika: kurzovné [natural native speed] |
| Michael: course fee |
| Veronika: kurzovné[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Veronika: kurzovné [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Veronika: způsobilý [natural native speed] |
| Michael: fit, capable, eligible |
| Veronika: způsobilý[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Veronika: způsobilý [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Veronika: dostavit se [natural native speed] |
| Michael: to arrive, to come |
| Veronika: dostavit se[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Veronika: dostavit se [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Veronika: potvrzení [natural native speed] |
| Michael: confirmation |
| Veronika: potvrzení[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Veronika: potvrzení [natural native speed] |
| Michael: And last.. |
| Veronika: sportovní oblečení [natural native speed] |
| Michael: sportswear |
| Veronika: sportovní oblečení[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Veronika: sportovní oblečení [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Michael: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Veronika: Tady vyplňte formulář. |
| Michael: meaning "Fill out the form here." |
| Michael: This is a sentence in the imperative mood. The infinitive form of the verb is: |
| Veronika: vyplnit |
| Michael: "to fill out." This sentence may be used to ask somebody to write down the missing information in a form. The adverb: |
| Veronika: tady |
| Michael: means "here" and suggests the action of passing over a form to someone. If you’re on a first-name basis, you can instead say: |
| Veronika: Tady vyplň formulář. |
| Michael: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Veronika: Sure. For example, you can say.. Tady vyplňte registrační formulář s vašimi údaji. |
| Michael: ..which means "Fill in the registration form with your details here." |
| Michael: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Veronika: Jste/Jsi zdravotně způsobilý/á? |
| Michael: meaning "Are you medically fit?" |
| Michael: This question is formed with the conjugated verb: |
| Veronika: být |
| Michael: meaning "to be." When using the polite form address, we use the form: |
| Veronika: jste. On first-name terms, we use jsi. |
| Michael: The form of the adjective that follows the verb changes depending on the gender of who you are speaking to. For a male, we use: |
| Veronika: způsobilý. For a female, we use způsobilá |
| Michael: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Veronika: Sure. For example, you can say.. Jsi zdravotně způsobilá pracovat? |
| Michael: .. which means "Are you medically fit to work?" |
| Michael: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: In this lesson, you'll learn about the passive voice and reflexive verbs. |
| Michael: To begin with, we will look at how to use reflexive verbs. In Czech, these are called: |
| Veronika: zvratná slovesa |
| Michael: They are combined with the reflexive pronouns: |
| Veronika: se and si |
| Michael: These correspond to "oneself" and the forms related to it, such as "myself, himself, herself, themselves." Reflexive verbs are verbs related to the agent (a person or a thing doing the action) of the sentence who is directly influenced by the verb which is being mentioned. Let’s look at an example with the verb "to wash oneself." |
| Veronika: That is mýt se. In a sentence, we can say Já se myji. |
| Michael: "I wash myself." |
| Veronika: Já myji nádobí. |
| Michael: "I wash the dishes." If I wash the dishes, the verb is not related to the agent of the sentence which is me. Instead, the verb is related to the object—the dishes. In this case the dishes are being washed whereas in our first example, it was me that was being washed. Due to this, the verb becomes a normal verb and loses the reflexive component: |
| Veronika: se |
| Michael: Common reflexive verbs include: |
| Veronika: oblékat se |
| Michael: "to dress" |
| Veronika: česat se |
| Michael: "to comb," as in to comb your hair |
| Veronika: sprchovat se |
| Michael: "to take a shower." There are the verbs which only exist in their reflexiva tantum, or reflexive form, such as: |
| Veronika: dívat se |
| Michael: "to look" |
| Veronika: učit se |
| Michael: "to learn" |
| Veronika: jmenovat se |
| Michael: "to be called" |
| Veronika: smát se |
| Michael: "to laugh." As well as the reflexive pronoun we heard earlier, reflexive verbs can also be combined with: |
| Veronika: si. Both se and si stay unchanged for all grammatical persons. |
| Michael: So what’s the difference? Well, one of them is used in the accusative case. |
| Veronika: This is se. It’s short for sebe. |
| Michael: Which means "oneself." The other is used in the dative case. |
| Veronika: This is si and is short for sobě. |
| Michael: Which means "to oneself." Let’s look at a couple of examples. |
| Veronika: Myju se. |
| Michael: "I’m washing myself." |
| Veronika: Myju si ruce. |
| Michael: "I’m washing hands." You can distinguish the difference between these two pronouns very easily. If the sentence includes a grammatical object (a noun more closely identifying the verb), the reflexive verb automatically changes from: |
| Veronika: se to si. |
| Michael: Here’s another example to show the difference. |
| Veronika: Oblékám se. |
| Michael: "I am getting dressed." There is no object in this sentence. |
| Veronika: Oblékám si bundu. |
| Michael: "I am getting dressed in a jacket." This sentence does have an object. Keep in mind that there are several reflexive verbs that regardless of whether they have an object or not, always combine with: |
| Veronika: si. For example číst si |
| Michael: "to read to oneself" |
| Veronika: hrát si |
| Michael: "to play on its own" |
| Veronika: pamatovat si |
| Michael: "to remember" Here is an example sentence: |
| Veronika: Čteme si. |
| Michael: "We are reading." In Czech reflexive verbs have more functions. They also serve to express a mutual relationship between two or more people. The English equivalent would be usually expressed by the phrase "each other". |
| Veronika: Máme se rádi. |
| Michael: "We like each other." |
| Veronika: Vyměnili si telefonní čísla. |
| Michael: "They exchanged their phone numbers." The reflexive pronouns are always used in the second position in the sentence. The second position does not always mean the real second position in the sentence. The better wording should be "the second component of the sentence". This means that they immediately follow the introductory nominal or adverbial phrase. For example: |
| Veronika: Sestra se učí. |
| Michael: "Sister is studying." |
| Veronika: Moje sestra se učí. |
| Michael: "My sister is studying." |
| Veronika: Moje mladší sestra a její kamarádka se učí. |
| Michael: "My younger sister and her friend are studying." In past tense, the reflexive pronouns are placed directly after the auxiliary verb. For example: |
| Veronika: Já jsem se zapsala do kurzu sebeobrany. |
| Michael: "I enrolled in a self defence course." |
| Veronika: Podívali jsme se na film. |
| Michael: "We watched a movie." Be aware that for the second person singular in the past tense the combinations: |
| Veronika: jsi se and jsi si are often shortened to ses and sis. Ty ses zapsala do kurzu sebeobrany. |
| Michael: "You enrolled in a self-defense course." Some of the verbs have a different meaning if combined with a reflexive pronoun. You can find a list of these in the lesson notes. Let’s hear some example sentences. |
| Veronika: Paní učitelka učí děti ve škole. |
| Michael: "The teacher teaches kids at school." |
| Veronika: Děti se učí ve škole. |
| Michael: "Kids learn at school." Finally for this lesson, we will look at how to use the reflexive passive with the reflexive passive particles and a conjugated verb. Apart from the functions mentioned above, the reflexive verbs are also used to express the passive voice. The passive form created by reflexive verbs is called reflexive passive |
| Veronika: zvratné pasivum |
| Michael: The reflexive passive is limited to the third person of both singular and plural number. Note that the agent is usually not expressed with the reflexive passive. For example: |
| Veronika: Právě se připravuje nový kurz. |
| Michael: "A new course is being prepared." |
| Veronika: Pak už jen stačí nechat se vyšetřit lékařem a můžete začít. |
| Michael: "Then you only need to receive a check up from your doctor and you can start." |
Outro |
| Michael: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Veronika: Na shledanou! |
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